They say your college years fly by in an instant, but it’s hard to believe it until the end of senior year comes around. During this time, students on campus can be seen posing for graduation photos in their cap and gown, eager to capture on camera their time spent in college.

Graduating from college with a degree is a major milestone for students, so here are five reasons why you need to take your graduation photos before you throw your cap in the air.

1. A Gift for Yourself

If you’re thinking about taking graduation photos, that means you’ve made it this far in your last year, which is quite an achievement in itself!

Four years of successfully balancing classes, studying and other obligations means that you have more than earned the right to celebrate your pending graduation with your own photo shoot. If you’re worried about the cost, ask a trusted friend for a photographer or search online to find the best price, which can be a hundred dollars or more.

Putting forth the effort in finding the right photographer for the job can seem overwhelming, but the results will be worth it. So, treat yourself for a photo shoot experience that will help mark the end of your college years and the beginning of something new.

2. A Gift for Your Parents

Since childhood, your parents have been sources of love and support, not to mention financial contribution. It’s no secret that college is expensive, and your parents have helped you gain an education by paying your tuition. You might have taken high school graduation photos, but a photo session highlighting your college career will mean much more to your loved ones; it’s evidence of your continued growth as an independent adult and your higher education.

A gift in the form of graduation photos is versatile with today’s technology, and your parents will appreciate printing out your photos or simply seeing them on their phone or laptop.

Graduation photos can be a personal way to thank your parents and anyone else that helped you throughout these last four years, and is a gift that will always be looked on with pride and joy.

3. Personalized Sessions

My favorite part about graduation photos is that your session can be whatever you want it to be, from the time and location of the shoot to creative poses that show bits of your personality on camera. That library on campus you spent countless hours studying in (or not) and that building you took your favorite class in? Both can be perfect, familiar backdrops for your graduation photos.

My advice? Take your graduation photos in the early morning. Waking up will be a nuisance, but the campus will be empty, the sun won’t be too bright and it’ll seem like the entire campus is yours when taking pictures.

Another fun option is to take some graduation photos with some close friends, especially because you never know when everyone will be in the same place again come graduation. Photo sessions can last an hour or two, so make the most of the time you have.

No matter how you choose to personalize your graduation photos, it will be something that will bring a smile to yourself now and years down the road.

4. Share in Your Memories

Let’s be honest: People do graduation photos to share them on social media for friends and family to see and admire. And why not? Your four years in college are transformative, shaping who you are as an individual through the classes you take and the friends you meet.

Posting your photo session online can be an exciting opportunity to share in your memories of college with those you love and will certainly stop you from staring in envy at others’ graduation photos as you scroll through social media. In addition, your graduation photos can be included as a nice touch when sending out graduation invitations.

Your graduation photos will forever be a nostalgic remembrance of one of the best times of your life, and should be something shared and cherished before you embark on the next leg of your journey in life.

5. Helps You Prepare for What Comes After

Graduation photo sessions are signs of the imminent end of your college career, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.

You might not realize it, but planning a graduation photo shoot means looking ahead after college with a bright outlook. It means accepting that while college offered you unforgettable (and sometimes stressful) memories, there are plenty more to be made.

Rather than dreading the big question mark that comes after graduation, your decision to take graduation photos will show others and — more importantly, yourself —that you look forward to what else life has to offer post-graduation.